Flowers

[RobertArthur]

[RobertArthur]

Almost everyone present now.

[Polly]

That’s gorgeous, RA.

[RobertArthur]

[Blaze]

We have a small camellia which was in a tub when we arrived. We planted it out but it's never done well, never grown and only produced a couple of flowers. We have neutral soil and camellias in the area seem to do brilliantly. It doesn't get attacked by icy east winds but it clearly doesn't like where it is. I'll try moving it to a different part of the garden ....

[exile]

You really need an acid soil for camelias to do well. Planting in an area that has had a lot of ericaceous soil added will help for a while but over time the soil around the plant will tend to revert back to the natural. Adding used coffee grounds or tea leaves as a mulch will also help to keep the soil on the acid side.

[Blaze]

You really need an acid soil for camelias to do well

Yes, that's probably the problem here. We're about 200m from the grève which blocks the sea during the grandes marées. The soil is sandy and clay - it can go like concrete when it dries out. Some things do well provided they get lots of water.
It may be that the best thing for the camellia is to put it into a very large tub with ericaceous compost - it's certainly not happy where it is but seems to have survived.

[RobertArthur]

Flowers in a simple castle garden.

[RobertArthur]

We transplanted our rhododendron to a big pot with new soil, a little surprise (for me), change of color, almost completely white now.